Wesley Snipes in Transit to Federal Prison

It's official. Action star Wesley Snipes is en route to federal prison to begin serving time for his conviction on tax-evasion charges. U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said that Snipes exhibited a “history of contempt over a period of time” for U.S. tax laws, and granted prosecutors the three-year sentence they requested -- one year for each of Snipes' convictions for willfully failing to file a tax return from 1999 to 2001.

Snipes called on famous friends to vouch for him, highlighted his clean criminal record and even wrote the government $5 million in checks -- all in an effort to convince the judge that his conviction on tax charges should cost him nothing more than home detention and some public service announcements. Clearly it didn't work. Snipes had remained free on bond while his legal team requested a new trial, which was denied this week. During sentencing, Judge Hodges admitted that he wanted to "make an example" of Snipes by giving him the harshest sentence on misdemeanor charges. We'd say he accomplished his goal. Hopefully Snipes is up on his martial arts.